AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Down 1.1% – Should You Sell?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price dropped 1.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $26.01 and last traded at $25.93. Approximately 9,225,497 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 40,274,078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on T. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.74.

AT&T Trading Up 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $194.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.22 and its 200 day moving average is $22.75.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in AT&T by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 18.3% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.